Ava unexpectedly falls in love with the man her parents had arranged her marriage to. But when disturbing rumors about him arise days before her wedding, Ava comes up with a test to discover his true intentions.
Ava gasped as she looked at Walter, the man her parents had arranged for her to meet. He stood up from his seat, impeccably dressed in an elegant suit that accentuated his athletic build, his blue eyes shining under the soft lighting.
Ava felt her heart skip a beat when he smiled and helped her sit down.
“Ava, let me introduce you to Walter, my son,” her mother said.
“How do you like him?” whispered Ava’s mother, Hilda, noticing her daughter’s flushed cheeks.
The families were seated at the large table in a restaurant, the air thick with apprehension and expectation. Ava, who had initially resisted this arranged meeting, found herself unexpectedly drawn to Walter. His gentlemanly behavior during dinner and subsequent meetings only increased her admiration for him.
So, a few weeks later, when he knelt and proposed, she didn’t hesitate to say yes.
“I’ll marry you,” she exclaimed as Walter slid a diamond ring onto her finger.
The wedding was set, and with only a few weeks left, Ava and her friend Hillary went to a boutique to choose a wedding dress for Ava’s special day.
They had just arrived and were waiting for assistance when they overheard two women whispering at the back.
At first, Ava tried to ignore them, but with how loud they were, it was impossible not to hear some words, especially when she heard Walter’s name.
“Are you saying that Walter, the blue-eyed playboy, is getting married?” one woman whispered incredulously.
“Apparently, his parents have found him a millionaire girl,” the other woman added.
Ava desperately wanted to keep listening but was interrupted when one of the assistants came up to her, signaling that it was her turn.
“You heard those people in the lobby, right?” Hillary asked as they followed the assistant.
“Do you know how many Walters there are in this state?” Ava replied, dismissing the rumors. She was convinced her Walter was different.
An hour later, Ava drove to Walter’s mansion. The recent rain had wet the roads, and as she neared the mansion, she saw a group of homeless people huddled by the roadside, trying to stay dry.
Ava slowed down to avoid splashing them with water and lowered the window to offer them money, but she was surprised to overhear their conversation.
“That rich guy in the red car splashed us with water. All that money has gone to his head! I bet that money isn’t even his. It’s his parents’!” grumbled a bearded man.
“With how handsome he is, he thinks he can do anything,” bitterly added a woman.
Shocked and confused, Ava rolled up the window and drove on to Walter’s estate, wondering if they were talking about him. She had seen his compassionate side, such as his charitable work, but now she doubted if it was just for show.
When she entered his house with the spare key she always had, she was stunned to hear him yelling on the phone.
“Get them out of here! I want them all gone!” he bellowed, his face twisted with anger.
His tone suddenly softened when he turned around and saw her.
“I don’t want to see those homeless people suffer in this rain. Find them a place, NOW!” he ordered, hanging up.
“Ava!” He smiled and walked toward her. “I saw some homeless people in the rain. It broke my heart, so I set up a shelter for them,” he explained. Ava didn’t know what to say and nodded. Throughout the evening, he acted as if everything was fine, but it wasn’t.
Their wedding was in a week, and afterward, Walter was going to be appointed director of one of his father’s charities.
When Ava got home, she talked everything over with Hillary and came up with a plan to test Walter’s true character.
“Why not hire a private investigator?” Hillary suggested. “Isn’t that easier than hiring an actor? What if it doesn’t work?”
It will work. People let their guard down easily with strangers, and this actor I hired is really good,” Ava explained.
The next day, they met at Walter’s favorite café, hiding their faces under large hats.
“Aren’t you worried Walter will get angry if he finds out?” Hillary asked cautiously.
“He won’t know if everything goes well,” Ava reassured her, while waiting for Walter to arrive. She had already sent him a message and set her plan in motion. Darling, can you bring me a coffee from your favorite place? I’ll wait for you in your office, she had written. Later, she would send him a message saying she couldn’t come due to work reasons.
When Walter entered the café, Ava watched him closely. Dressed in a white sweater and black pants, Walter attracted admiring glances as he ordered. Ava’s heart swelled with pride, but she was anxious about the actor she had hired to put him to the test.
“I hope everything goes well,” she murmured to Hillary.
As Walter waited, a disheveled man, the actor Ava had hired, approached the counter. Walter was put off and stepped aside, allowing the man to order first.
“He’s very polite,” Ava whispered, unaware of Walter’s true intentions.
“Yes, surprising,” said Hillary, despite her doubts about Walter’s character.
Walter paid for the man’s bread and coffee, hiding his frustration, all because he wanted the smelly, poor man to leave as soon as possible. The situation escalated when the man accidentally spilled coffee on Walter’s sweater. Walter’s anger erupted, but he saw a familiar face in the café and restrained himself.
“I’m sorry, sir,” the man mumbled, tears in his eyes.
Walter, seething inside, forced a smile. “Oh, don’t worry! It’s just clothes, nothing more. You can buy more food at the counter; I’ll pay,” he offered, guiding the man to the counter while typing energetically on his phone, trying to send a quick message to his friend.
Ava watched from a distance and felt proud of Walter’s kindness. “He’s the man I thought he was,” she told Hillary, who was not entirely convinced.
Soon, Walter stepped outside, walking shoulder to shoulder with the beggar, who was walking beside him with a smile. They had just turned a corner when Walter grabbed the man by the shirt and harshly whispered in his ear. “If you say a word of this to Ava, you’ll regret it,” he warned, throwing his hot coffee at the man before walking away.
Meanwhile, Ava sent him the message, thinking she was foolish for doubting him. “See, I told you he was a good guy,” she said to Hillary.
Walter frowned as he read the message and drove toward his house. He knew Ava suspected something. Desperate, he called Brandon, his trusted friend, for advice.
Meanwhile, Joe, the actor hired by Ava to test Walter, took off the coffee-soaked clothes. Feeling the pain in his neck from Walter’s grip, he avoided contacting his client and headed home.
At Walter’s house, the atmosphere was tense. “She knows!” Walter shouted.
“Calm down. What exactly does she know?” Brandon asked, pouring wine for his friend.
Walter explained Ava’s test and the fear her suspicions caused him.
“Spend more money on those charity galas she likes. There’s barely a week left before the wedding, and all you have to do is hold on until then,” Brandon instructed, and Walter listened intently.
That night, when Ava got home, she spent hours talking to Walter on the phone, convinced that he was the only person she wanted to spend the rest of her life with.
“I love you too,” she whispered into the phone before hanging up.
Two days before the wedding, Ava went alone to pick up her dress. Unexpectedly, a woman blocked her way. “You’re Ava, right? The one who’s marrying Walter?” the woman asked bluntly.
“Yes, that’s me. I love him,” Ava responded, assuming the woman was one of Walter’s exes.
“Don’t marry him. He’s not who you think he is,” the woman warned gravely before walking away.
Ava went after her, but the woman got into her car and drove off.
Confused and worried, Ava could only wonder about the woman’s motives as she picked up her wedding dress. She decided to call Joe, the actor she had hired to test Walter, in case he had any idea.
She had paid him for his work, but hadn’t heard from him since his performance at the café. At that time, she hadn’t thought much about it because she was convinced Walter was truly a kind and caring man. Joe didn’t answer her first calls, and when he finally did, he urgently warned her to stay away from Walter before hanging up abruptly.
Confused and alarmed, Ava reflected on Joe’s reaction and decided to test Walter herself this time, without intermediaries. She planned to disguise herself as a beggar and approach Walter to see his true
Confused and worried, Ava could only wonder about the woman’s motives as she picked up her wedding dress. She decided to call Joe, the actor she had hired to test Walter, to see if he had any ideas.
She had paid him for his work, but hadn’t heard from him since his performance at the café. At the time, she didn’t think much of it because she was convinced that Walter was truly a kind and caring man. Joe didn’t answer her initial calls, and when he finally did, he urgently warned her to stay away from Walter before abruptly hanging up.
Confused and alarmed, Ava reflected on Joe’s reaction and decided to test Walter herself this time, without intermediaries. She planned to disguise herself as a beggar and approach Walter to see his true character.
Dressed in old, foul-smelling clothes and a dirty scarf, Ava waited for Walter at a luxury restaurant where they were supposed to meet. She approached him in the parking lot, asking him for help with her beggar disguise.
Remembering Brandon’s advice to maintain a good public image, Walter reluctantly gave her some money and left.
Seeing his “kindness,” Ava couldn’t help but feel a little guilty for not trusting him. Upon entering the restaurant, she went directly toward him, trying to grab his arm while calling him by his name.
“Wal…” she began, but the words barely left her mouth when she felt a brutal, sharp force against her face.
“I’m a woman,” Ava stammered, shocked, not knowing what else to say as she watched Walter look at her with hostile, unfamiliar eyes.
“You stinky witch! The only reason I didn’t slap you earlier is because we were in public. How dare you follow me?” Walter shouted. “Poor beggar, I hate people like you!”
Walter had been holding his emotions in for a while, and seeing the restaurant completely empty seemed like a great opportunity for him to vent on the beggar who DARED to almost touch him.
“I’ve been walking around with a kind look just because I’m trying to get a woman to marry me, and you think you can take advantage of that? Get out of here or I’ll slap you again.” Walter continued shouting, and Ava realized he was serious.
Touching her face, she felt it burning as her eyes stung both from the pain and from realizing that Walter was nothing like the man she had fallen in love with.
As she demanded security to remove her, Ava took off her disguise, revealing her true identity.
“It’s me, Ava,” she finally said, heartbroken.
His face turned pale. “A-Ava? How could you deceive me like this? Was all of this a trap, a test? I thought you loved me. I thought you trusted me,” he stammered, trying to turn the situation around.
But Ava simply shook her head and smiled.
“The wedding is off, loser!” she declared before walking away.
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Months later, Ava’s parents set her up on another date. She met Brandon, a seemingly calm and gentlemanly figure.
“My name is Brandon. I’m sure you’ve heard a lot about me,” he greeted her with a charming smile.
I guess appearances can be deceiving, Ava thought. Through the private investigator Ava had hired, she learned that this man was more dangerous than Walter. She smiled at him, determined to give him a lesson he would never forget.
Images for illustrative purposes. | Photo: Pexels
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